As the Vino Fino boys had recently conducted a Syrahs of the World
tasting, we suggested evaluating wines from West Coast producers.

Host Jack Sweitzer shared a wonderful old bottle of Syrah with us to
start the evening, a 1983 Jasmin Cte-Rtie.

The tasting was most interesting, as we had a lovely range of wines.
Virtually every "style" was on display in this flight of wines.

Here's what we found:

The Wines

Gerald's Rank

GROUP VERDICT

Total Points

1sts/2nds/
Lasts

CHALONE2000 Estate
$29.99

5

3

38

0/0/0

JC CELLARS2001 Napa
Caldwell Vineyard
$39.99

2

1

20

2/6/0

LEWIS2000 Napa
$49.99

4

2

30

2/2/0

LUCIA2001
Garys' Vineyard
Santa Lucia Highlands
$37.99

1

4

40

2/0/1

MAGNIFICENT WINE COMPANY2001 Washington Columbia Valley
$19.99

3

5

46

1/0/3

MASON2001 Napa
$19.99

7

8

52

0/1/3

OJAI2001 California
$19.99

6

6

47

1/0/1

QUP2001 Central Coast
$13.99

8

7

51

1/0/1

8th Place: MASON 2001 Napa SYRAHA few tasters knocked this one down for having a slightly vegetal note,
while others nailed it for showing some SO2.
It was the most grapy and fruity wine of the bunch, Mason's showing more like a
Beaujolais-styled red amongst more "seriously" intentioned Syrah
wines. I found it pleasant and distinctive on the palate...the sort of red
that would be enjoyable with chicken or pork. I gave it a one-and-a-half
star rating on my three star scale (no stars being ordinary or average).

7th Place: QUP 2001 Central Coast SYRAHThis wine had no flaws, but was simply more quiet or shy compared to the
more extroverted wines in this line-up. I found a mild berry fruit note
which seemed closed and only showing a bit of alcohol at first. Later it
seemed to have a note of mint. The wine is simple, well-made and slightly
coarse on the palate (obviously needing some food). Qup makes more
"heavy hitter" wines, but this was included to keep the average price
per bottle within the realm of reason.

6th Place: OJAI 2001 CaliforniaOjai's basic, entry level bottling is really good in its price range.
There's a deep quality to the fruit and berry notes on the nose. It may
lack a bit of spice, but it's quite a good fragrance. The fruit is bright
on the palate, showing lots of berry notes. I rated this one-and-a-half
stars.

5th Place: MAGNIFICENT WINE COMPANY 2001 Columbia Valley SYRAHDeep and plummy fruit gives this some interest at the start, then it shows a
hint of a woodsy note and, finally, a touch of a bacon character. The wine
is quite good on the palate, having a bit of spice and berryish fruit. Two
stars. Good value!

4th Place: LUCIA 2001 Santa Lucia Highlands "Garys' Vineyard"Some tasters didn't care for the rather intense spice notes of this Syrah,
but for Jim Sweeny and myself, this was "the" wine of the
evening. The wine is extremely spicy and was far more
"Syrah-like" than anything else in the line-up. The nose shows
notes of white pepper and almost a grapefruit rind spice quality. Very
peppery on the palate! Three stars!

3rd Place: CHALONE 2000 Chalone SYRAHOf course Chalone is famed for some its more Burgundian-styled wines, so
this wine is interesting to see how they handled a Rhne grape. There's a
hint of a spice note on the nose, but also a woodsy, vanilla bean sort of
character. A touch of anise peeks through at the end. The wine has
lots of fruit and is nicely oaked...good balance. Good wine!
One-and-a-half stars.

Mister Syrah, Gary Peer, who had the low "delta" of six.Yes, that's Allan Anderson in the background!2nd Place: LEWIS 2000 Napa SYRAHWhen tasted alongside other Lewis wines, one can taste the
"Syrah." When tasted alongside other Syrah wines, one encounters
a huge amount of oak and not much else. The wood, though, is quite
pleasant. I couldn't identify this as "Syrah" in this tasting,
but as an internationally-styled red wine using a lot of wood, this is certainly
going to have its fans! There's more wood than you can shake a stick at on
the nose and plenty on the palate. One taster remarked "This is what
all red wines should taste like! I love it!!" I gave it a
one-and-a-half star rating, more points for style than for varietal character.

1st Place: JC CELLARS 2001 Caldwell Vineyard NAPA SYRAHJC is Jeff Cohn, a winemaker at Rosenblum Cellars. He's quite a fan of
Rhne wines and his own bottling from Napa's Caldwell Vineyard is very
complex. It's one of those "gobs of fruit" wines, showing floral
and berryish notes on the nose, with hints of olives, spices and more!
Very juicy and fruity, there seems to be a bit of residual sweetness here, so
it's not "bone dry" and particularly grippy on the palate. Nice
texture, though. Big. Two-and-a-half stars.

Please note: The wines tasted are not always wines
we have (or have had) in the shop.
Many bottles are merely for our enological exploration.
Price quoted are current at the time of the tasting, but may be different
when you're reading this.

WE HAVE NOT ORGANIZED A TASTING IN A WHILE...
BUT WE DO POST THE RESULTS OF A PRIVATE TASTING GROUP THAT'S BEEN MEETING FOR
MORE THAN 40 YEARS!

We are working on
organizing some blind-tastings at the shop.
Send us a note to indicate your interest in participating.
These would be on Wednesday evenings and you'd need to bring 8 wine glasses.